Poetry, by Jack Brady

"To See, To Sense, To Feel, To Know We areAlive!"

Shadows Dancing ™

Poems & Personal Writings of Jack Brady

"That which is Given, can never be Stolen"

“You may not be here tomorrow, but your Dreams can be through another.Share your Dreams.”

As you read my writings, all have been written at different times over the last 30 years.

The copyright date is just the date I decided to share publicly.

Of some, I hope you have felt the same at one time during your Life.

Of others, I pray you have not, and do not understand!

(NOTE: At this time, all of my poems below are accompanied by a recording of my readingthe respective poem. If you click on the "arrow" found on the left side of the box in the center below the poem, you can start and stop the reading.)

AshesWhether Black, Brown, Yellow, White, or anything in between,Wearing a Bursa, the Robe of a Pope, the Rags of a beggar,Whether you walk the Rainbow, or the Straight Path,Whether whole in body, mind or Spirit, or not,Whether Kind or Cruel, happy or sad,Whether Loved or Loveless,Whether Female or Male,Whether Rich or Poor,

To Know You See Me, yet Your Eyes are closed. To Know You Hear Me, yet My Lips do not move. To Know You Feel Me, yet We do not Touch. To Know the Taste of Your Kiss, yet our Lips do not meet. To Bring You Pleasure, though I am not before you.

That is what I Seek, That is what I Offer, As I find No other Reason to Seek.

Tears My Soul touchs You, without arms. It feels You, without flesh, It sees You, without eyes, It weeps, without tears, It has no voice, yet it speaks to you, Nothing is said, yet it knows Your thoughts.

ArroganceThey know not of before the Womb.
They know not of after the Last Breath.
Yet they have all the Answers of how I should live My Life?
I walk through the crowds Unseen, Untouched, Unknown.
I wander amongst Them, yet will never be one with Them, or They one with Me.

No Mask, No Mirrors Move outside yourself. See Yourself without your self. Move through the Ether. Lose yourself to become Your Self. Peel off the facade that has masked your Soul from your Consciousness.

Know you are complete when You fade from the mirror's deceptive glare.

Abandon the Heaven the Earthly Souls long for. Embrace the Earth the Spirits of Heaven seek.

“One to Touch”Kalamazoo Valley State Mental Institution; Dying Ward. 1966My Job Description, yes I was an employee, not a patient!: “To log and record any and all abnormal behavior, witness all deaths.” Below is just one of my many experiences there.

I knew nothing of him, or so many others. Their records were cold, as were the visitor’s chairs beside their beds.

He never said a word. Blind, He never looked into my eyes, as others sought to do. He never looked into my Soul, yet felt my presence. Yet, his Life’s last gesture was to sense and reach for my forearm.

I did not pull away. I was all there was for him. The head nurse looked on, silently, still. As he dug his nails deep into my forearm, I felt his passing.

Many had been felt, but his was different. I would not pull away for several minutes, though my forearm bled. It was my honor to be the last he would reach for and touch.

Passageways to KnowledgeYou’re Born into the center of a Sphere that is Your Universe to grasp and explore. Sitting in the Center feels Safe.

Yet,in time and with exploration, it becomes sterile and the yearning to Explore the Unknown is overpowering. With time and good fortune, you Explore the boundries, Experience and Master the Stimuli in Your Universe.

You feel secure until you find a small tear in the Outer Limits of Your Universe. It is too small to pass through without leaving all you have accumulated behind! It is like passing through a funnel that becomes narrower and narrower, forcing you to abandon your prior prejudices, attachments and pre-conceptions in order to enter an Unknown Realm.

As you ponder the dilemma to risk loosing Yourself for a chance to explore what is now exposed to your Soul, the Pull of the Unknown is too great. You abandon all and as such are moved into a new Sphere, much larger and more intimidating than the one you left behind. You find that the Senses you acquired from Your Past have not left you and you become acutely aware that this new and strange Universes boundary are far beyond that which came before it.

Thus the Exploration and acquisition of Knowledge and Wisdom begins at a new, higher level, until it too is explored and internalized, and Fate puts before you a tear in the fabric to once again challenge your contentment with yourself.

Each Passage requires the abandonment of concepts that have mutated into ever more powerful aspects of your Being, thus making the abandonment that much more difficult. To halt and accept the current Universe may bring contentment, but you’ll never know what more there is to Explore if that is all you ask of yourself.

Surrender Sensing and Feeling the dying of your cells. Staring at the Sunset while hoping for the next Rise. Loosing balance, and hoping it is only physical. Pondering the singularity of my Souls Journey. Seeing none of the Answers you though you would find. Frightened by the missed beats of the Heart and Soul. Sitting, Lost as to why there isn’t more to share, or those to share with. Trapped by the confines we have created by our own design. Not knowing how hard to Fight to reach tomorrow, or is now the time to Surrender.

“Share”, she asks. “Open up and show me what others only Dream of.” “What have you learned?” “Show me your Sea, Your Forests." "Show me how you see and are about to see.” “Let me be One with Your Soul”, she asks.

“I’ll never abandon”, she whispers. “Fear Me not,” she Promises. “I’ll offer what I ask if you’ll stay”, she proclaims.

"Her" To Sense the presence of a Soul that you Love and have Loved, intertwined with yours, but not from this Life. To Honor Her presence and acknowledge Her. To Trust Her guidance and influence in your Life. To plant a tree, to Kiss a Star, to shed a tear and taste it so She may know it's taste again. To walk into the Sea, submerge and drink from Her essence. That is all I can offer, yet that is all She needs. To be at Peace with her Spirit, yet long for her flesh. Her. For another Life.

I’ve known where over the horizon you lay, but steered my course away from you.

I’ve wasted so much time for the fear I could not Honor you.

Now I’m drowning in a sea of tears of my own making. Is it too late to sense your presence in This Life? The suffering and solitude, even in the presence of another masked as you, has tempered my Soul for you. I’m ready to finally share with Yours. Can you still see me? Can you still hear me? Can you still feel me? Can you find me? Will you still reach for me?

The taste of oil on cold blued steel! Why is there A Lady in a glowing mist up in the corner of my room, a Boy asks of the Silence?

“Love”, is that what I’m feeling for the first time?? I’ve never know of It’s Look, of It’s Intensity, or It’s Warmth!!

What part of my Being has She just touched that has been hidden from Me? My Soul?!

Why NOW, when my Exit Path is now defined, finally by Me? Why not shown to Those that caused such Pain to make Me abandon this Life?

Is She like the Rain? Are You the warm mist from the calm night that nurtures me as I open my eyes and press my tongue into you and feel your droplets land on me? Are you like the driving sleet brought to me in the rage of your passion to touch my Soul?

Why won’t you look Away!! I did not ask for you now!!! I want to find Peace

Can I find what I seek, in the absence of HER? My Soul knows of It, yet my Flesh and Heart seek Her.

Facing Her, To become one with HER while Meditating. To become entwined in each other’s Spirit. To dance with the Stars as One. To feel the Kiss of Heaven within each. To become the Tear of the Whale. To know HER as none other. To let her know Me as never shared before. To know we were One, before in another Life. To be at Peace with having found each other in this Life.

As my fingers move across the Keyboard trying to type what I need to share, what I must release, My Soul twists with the anguish of letting a Feeling inside be brought to light for others to see.

Such is the Nature of holding oneself together.

Expression is cathartic, but places One in Harms Way.

The sense of preservation balanced with the urge to share Self is a sword that cuts both ways.

Let It be seen and It can be used to harm, don’t let it be seen and it festers within and cuts Your Soul. Worse, never expose it and the One seeking, with the same Pain to her being, will never glance My way.

I walk along the shore, Pondering "Forever More". Morning Mist Surrounds My progression along the shoreline between Earth and Heaven. Only footsteps in the Sand of Life Past reveal my Path for any to see that choose to look, till the Sea washes away any trace of My Being. Should you wonder what Soul was present, but only in the moment, look before all trace is lost.

As I move along the ragged line that separates the Land and Sea, Earth and Heaven, I reflect on the Path I’ve chosen, the experiences that have manifested before me and been tasted, the Love for Her never manifest, the Love for the Joy of My Life in Her absence.

My Sea, My Forest, My Mountains, My Mind, My Heart, My Soul.

I am grateful to have been able to leave any marks at the waters edge, however temporary their tenure, however many cuts on my Soul from the piercing sharp objects at the waters edge.

As I progress on my Path, I see before me a Wall. Made of Doors? Stacked from the shore to the mountains on the left, the seas horizon on the right. Reaching up into the Universe. No knobs on my side and doors are only hinged to open from the other side!!

Voices? Is it Her? Is it Yours? From the other side?

Will She open to look through from just one of the thousands of doors before Her?

I will pause for a moment, sit and see if any door opens and Her appearance manifests.

A Lifetime is passing, I only hear voices. I hear none of the hinges creek with the sound of Your pending appearance.

Is it time to move on? If I move, will She see my tracks from the Wall, or will the Sea have washed me from Her seeking.

If to be found, then it will be. If not, then I will enjoy my Path and be Joyful in the Gift from the Universe to have been offered this time to wander in the Dimension of Life.

I pause as I turn away from Heavens Doors to continue on my Journey, Am I leaving just before Her appearance? Did She open and look before I found Heavens Doors? Have I waited long enough? If a door opens, will she enter to share My World and walk the Paths of Life before us, or will She beckon me to leave this World and join her?

To trace the path of Your Lips with My Lips. To follow the trail of Your curves with My cheek, To feel the warmth of Your breath on My neck, To feel the whisk of Your hair across My forehead, To feel the twitch of Your thigh on My neck.

No! No! There IS More to be Found!

To Hear Your Voice Call My Soul’s Name through the Forests Mist.

To Hold Your Shadow, cast upon the Forest Floor at Sunset, as tall and as strong as the Trees Shadow.

To drink Your Mist, soothing my burning Soul’s Thirst.

To allow the currents of Your Soul to capture Me, lifting Me to Your Heaven.

To see You with Me, within the Whales Tear.

To feel the Waves of Your Soul’s Sea crash upon My Soul’s Shore.

To know only You see Me, with Eyes Closed.

I offer to You the Helm of my Souls Vessel, and Trust Your Souls Compass.

You’d never know, as we never got to the point of sharing the parts of a Life Time that are not apparent as one passes another on the street, at sea or on a forest trail.

I’ve experienced a "Life Time" that has one major deficit in it.

No, not intelligence, as I have enough of that to part me from the masses.

Not sensitivity, a brief read of my writings will remove any doubt of that.

Adventures? Far more than most, all around the World, some in situations that risk life and limb, but ones that must be experienced to understand the depths and heights of Life.

A unquestioned belief in beyond here? No, just search “NDE” and you’ll answer a journey of 6 minutes in my life, or should one say “after life”?

Only my Shadow has been with me in this lifetime! Loved me, been faithful, listened, never questioned my intent, the purity of my heart or my Soul, danced with me regardless of pain, fear or Joy.

It has never manifested a hidden agenda that placed me in harms ways.

My Shadow has drawn me to it’s Dance on moon lit nights, appearing in the beauty of the reflection in the sea, on my forest floor in the moon light, before a fire as it danced for all in the flicker of the fires light.

It is all that has been faithful, and only it. It has always been with me, and will never abandon me for another.

It stays with me as I age, as health fades and changes my ability to run on the forest Moon lite path.

It has entertained me, in a Life time of the absence of another like myself, or even one not like myself.

My “Shadow”, a gift to me from the Universe, that I would have perished without.

Blend Your Shadow with mine on the forest floor, Now lie beside me on the fallen leaves.

Blend my Soul with Yours in the beams of the Moon’s light on a windy cold night to warm You.

Answer to my call? Send me Yours so I may at least know what path to take to embrace You.

May YOU HEAR ME before my lungs no longer can call to You!

Has the time pasted for Us?

No, I see Your reflection in the Clouds above me! In the distance, I know You are still with me but not together, yet. My Shadow has crossed Yours on a path Yours once walked in solitude. But I’ve possessed more of the Moon’s surface than felt Your touch in this Life.

I remember You, but not from this lifetime! Now, once again to be Blessed by Your touch, Your kiss, while We are still flesh! Just one more night with Our Souls encapsulated in Flesh.Now!

You have found me in my Dreams within a Dream. Now find me in my flesh.

Alone with You,
In a prison of one,Left with you, no one.The cold of Your body and Soul,My pain of entrapment, took it’s Toll.

Never Felt,Never Shared,Never Sensed,Never Loved.

Came as the Dream Slayer,Cloaked in beauty,Yet possessing none.

To your trophies,I was added.

For your pleasure,I was lost.

Fear of never finding Self again,Kept Me chained to my Word.

Once your promise was broken,The chains binding me to My Wordwere gone, and so was I.

Left alone without Myself,One has to search the Soul of times past.Breath in Life to that abandoned Mystery,Kiss the Shadows in which it hid.Dance to the sound of My Heart,Now Free, to once again Beat with Passion!

With a new Edge to My Soul,I wander again to sense Freedom and seeka True Love denied.

Scars have been added, yet have notdestroyed the essence of this Soulthat was hiding because of the darkness of another.

Wrapped in the warmth of My Cocoon,Woven from the threads of My hours in the past,Alone on My Sea and in My Forests.

I’m renewed and Whole again,Washed Pure by the salt of My tears.Never to loose possession of Self
for the wants of Another again.

Shadows Dancing

About This Site

I built this site using Word Press from scratch, to share my passion for Photography and a few of the Poems I have written. I hope to inspire viewers to step out into the Wilderness and enjoy all the beauty available to all of us.